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Korea Herald
07-07-2025
- General
- Korea Herald
Japan provides 3D data of returned Bodhisattva statue to Buseoksa
Buseoksa plans to create three copies of the original statue Just two months after a 14th-century Korean Buddhist statue, previously stolen from a Japanese temple and brought to Korea, was returned to Japan in May, a temple on Tsushima Island has sent 3D data on the statue to Buseoksa Temple in Korea. The Ven. Wonwoo, the chief monk of Buseoksa, confirmed to The Korea Herald that Setsuryo Tanaka, the chief priest of Kannon Temple in Japan's Tsushima, Nagasaki prefecture, visited the Korean temple with a USB containing the 3D scan data. "He visited the temple on Sunday at around 2 p.m. and gave us the USB. We had repeatedly requested permission for a 3D scan to be conducted on the statue while the statue was in Korea, but Japan had refused," Ven. Wonwoo said via phone. "After the statue was returned to Japan, it stayed at the Kannonji Temple for a day before being moved to a museum. Feeling a sense of loss, the temple began to understand how deeply Koreans must have felt when the statue was taken from them. Moved by this empathy, they decided to share the 3D data with us," he explained further. With the 3D data, Buseoksa plans to create three copies of the original statue. One replica will be covered in gold leaf and enshrined at the temple, while the other two will be housed or displayed at cultural institutions. The 50.5-centimeter-tall gilt-bronze Seated Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, which weighs around 38.6 kilograms, was stolen from Kannonji, a temple in Tsushima, Nagasaki prefecture, Japan, in October 2012. In December of that year, Korean police caught nine individuals involved in smuggling the statue and notified Buseoksa, the Korean temple believed to be its original owner, in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province. Buseoksa went through a seven-year legal battle to reclaim what it considered a stolen artifact, arguing that Japan had looted it during the late Goryeo Kingdom (918–1392). However, in 2023, the Supreme Court of Korea ruled that Kannonji Temple was the owner. The statue was returned to Japan on May 12. It is currently being kept at a museum in Tsushima City due to security concerns.
Korea Herald
24-06-2025
- General
- Korea Herald
Name length limit lifted for children born to mixed-nationality parents
Children born to parents of Korean and foreign nationality will no longer face restrictions on the number of characters in their given names when registering their births in South Korea, the Supreme Court of Korea announced on Tuesday. Under revised family registration regulations that took effect on June 20, limits in name length -- previously capped at five characters excluding the surname –– have been removed for children of mixed-nationality couples. Until now, only children with fathers of foreign nationality and Korean mothers were allowed to register names exceeding the five-character limit, and only if the name matched that recorded in the birth registry of the father's home country. In accordance with the latest revision, the exemption now applies regardless of whether the foreign parent is the mother or father. As long as the child's given name is officially recorded in the foreign country's registry, it can be registered in Korea without any character limit -- regardless of which parent's surname is used. The Supreme Court added that for children who have already been registered with shortened or modified names, parents may file a supplemental report to change the child's recorded name to match that in the registry of the foreign parent's country.
Korea Herald
03-06-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Will Yoon Suk Yeol meet same bitter end as his predecessors?
With ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol's trial set to run until mid-December, he won't face a verdict until almost seven months after new president is elected on June 3. The Criminal Act stipulates that those convicted of leading an insurrection face either death penalty or life imprisonment. Experts The Korea Herald spoke to said he was likely to be found guilty and face a prison sentence. 'Yoon's martial law declaration did not cause significant injuries or deaths like ex-President Chun Doo-hwan's Gwangju massacre in 1980. I expect the court to sentence him to life imprisonment rather than the death penalty,' a former research judge at the Constitutional Court Noh Hee-bum told The Korea Herald. Lee Yun-ju, a law professor at Myongji University, expected a similar fate for Yoon. 'I think Yoon, who is a former prosecutor, knows that he cannot be acquitted in the criminal trial. He continues to politicize the trial, like how he expressed his support for conservative party's presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo. Yoon plans to wait for a potential special pardon provided by the conservative People Power Party after the conservative party (hypothetically) retains power in the June 3 election,' said Lee. Though the ousted president's future remains uncertain until the Supreme Court of Korea to hand down its final verdict, Yoon is expected to become a part of the troubled history of South Korea's former presidents. Here is a list of presidents who once stood at the pinnacle of power and saw their careers end in disgrace. In 1995, former President Chun Doo-hwan and another former President Roh Tae-woo became the first two former presidents to be arrested. Chun, who not only seized power through a 1979 coup, but also masterminded the massacre that quelled the Gwangju Democratic Uprising in 1980, were indicted on charges of insurrection, treason, bribery and corruption in 1996. Roh, who became president by beating a divided field in the democratic election that followed Chun's ouster, was tried for his role in the 1979 military coup as well. Though Seoul District Court sentenced Chun to death and handed down a prison term of 22 years and six months to Roh with its first trial verdict, the Supreme Court of Korea reduced Chun's punishment to life imprisonment and Roh's sentence by five years. The two former presidents were pardoned by former President Kim Young-sam in 1997, after serving two years in prison. Two other former presidents — Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak — have seen cases go all the way to a trial verdict. Park, the first elected president to be removed from office by the Constitutional Court, was indicted on multiple charges, including bribery, abuse of power and coercion in 2017. In its 2018 ruling, the court found Park guilty of 16 out of the 18 charges and sentenced her to 24 years in prison. Park spent four years and nine months behind bars, as she was pardoned by her successor, President Moon Jae-in. Ex-President Lee was charged in April 2018 on 16 criminal counts including embezzlement and bribery. A district court found him guilty of seven counts and sentenced him to 15 years in prison in its first trial verdict in October 2018. However, Lee only spent two years and six months in prison, as he was pardoned in 2022 by former President Yoon. Former President Roh Moo-hyun died by suicide amid an investigation targeting him and his family over bribery charges in 2009.
![[Urgent] Supreme Court's verdict sours Lee Jae-myung's presidential bid](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwimg.heraldcorp.com%2Fnews%2Fcms%2F2025%2F05%2F01%2Fnews-p.v1.20250501.7a95ffe3b0574e6fb689ed6427712490_T1.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
Korea Herald
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
[Urgent] Supreme Court's verdict sours Lee Jae-myung's presidential bid
The Supreme Court of Korea overturned Thursday the lower court's decision to acquit former Democratic Party of Korea leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung on two charges of election law violations, sending the case back to the Seoul High Court for a final and unchallengeable verdict. Decided by a majority vote, the top court's ruling overturned the previous verdict of the Seoul High Court, which had declared in late March that the evidence presented "did not prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt." But the top court's decision does not mean that Lee will immediately lose both his parliamentary seat and eligibility to run for public office for a decade. Lee could still run for president, as the final decision in the retrial is widely expected to take a few months, meaning it is unlikely to be delivered before the June 3 presidential election. Lee's case will be remanded to the Seoul High Court for a final ruling, which is expected be in line with the Supreme Court's decision to hand down a conviction for the liberal presidential front-runner convicted of election law violations, since the top court did not clear Lee of the charges. Article 19 of the Public Official Election Act stipulates anyone convicted of violating election laws who receives a fine amounting to at least 1 million won ($700) or a heavier punishment is barred from running for office for 10 years. Lee was indicted for falsely denying personal ties to the late Kim Moon-ki, former head of Development Division 1 at Seongnam Development Corp., during a televised interview as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in December 2021. Kim was accused of involvement in a land corruption scandal in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, when Lee was the city's mayor. Lee was also facing charges of making a false statement at a parliamentary hearing in October 2021 that he was coerced into rezoning a property, amid speculation that he had sought personal gain in the mid-2010s as Seongnam mayor by granting permission for a property rezoning project. Regarding his statements, the Seoul High Court found Lee not guilty of any crimes. Lee's case was initially assigned to a panel of four justices — a conventional way for the Supreme Court to manage cases it hears on appeal — on April 22. But Chief Justice Jo Hee-de decided to hear the case in a full court session after considering the high level of public interest and national concern. A full-court review is one of two procedures by which the court exercises its power, convening with at least two-thirds of the justices and the chief justice presiding. The court conducted two hearings over four days after the case was assigned to the justices. The final verdict was delivered nine days after the election law violation case was referred to the full bench.
Korea Herald
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Fast-tracked Lee Jae-myung verdict stirs talk of political timing
Legal experts say top court seen moving fast to stay above politics, ensure fair election As the Supreme Court of Korea decided to deliver its verdict on Lee Jae-myung's election law violation case on Thursday, just nine days after it first reviewed the case on April 22, speculation is growing over the reason for the top court's earlier-than-expected ruling date. While many election law violation cases that are appealed to the Supreme Court take more than three months to process, Lee's case has garnered both public and legal analysts' attention because the court conducted two hearings in the four days after the case was first taken up by the justices. The hearings occurring so fast is seen as highly unusual, especially in cases referred to a full bench, which typically meets just once a month. Though Noh Hee-bum, a former constitutional researcher and lawyer, was surprised by the Supreme Court's decision, in his view, South Korea's Supreme Court is likely making efforts to ensure a fair election. 'I think the court decided to deliver its verdict early in order to resolve the controversy over candidate eligibility before the presidential election. This will offer people the chance to choose their president based on policies, vision and competence without prejudice and unjust slander from the opposing side,' Noh told The Korea Herald. According to Noh, the South Korean judiciary has continued to face controversies related to Lee's case as lower courts 'wasted' more time in their rulings than is stipulated in the Public Official Election Act. While the Public Official Election Act in principle requires the district court and high court to deliver their verdicts on election law violation cases within six months and three months, respectively, the Seoul Central District Court spent more than two years coming to its initial ruling. Then, the Seoul High Court acquitted the liberal presidential front-runner on March 26, four months after the case was assigned to the court. Explaining that the Public Official Election Act requires the Supreme Court to rule on appeals in election law violation cases within three months of the previous verdict, Noh stressed that the expedited proceedings and ruling should be regarded as a deliberate effort not only to minimize the impact of judicial decisions on the election, but also to show the court's efforts to issue rulings within the legally recommended time frames. 'If the Supreme Court delivers its verdict after May 11 -- the official deadline for presidential candidate registration -- after spending time reviewing the case, it might be difficult to avoid accusations that the judiciary is politicized or has political intentions,' said Lee Yun-je, a law professor at Myongji University. 'And if Lee Jae-myung wins the upcoming election, he will be protected by presidential immunity. The Supreme Court would have no choice but to suspend proceedings for five years, which would create greater confusion in society,' Lee said. Article 84 of the Constitution stipulates that a sitting president cannot be charged with a criminal offense, except for insurrection or treason. There are differing opinions about how to interpret this article, even in the legal community, regarding whether the judiciary needs to proceed with or suspend a case involving a president if it began before he or she was elected. In view of this question, professor Lee said the court found it necessary to rule early. Lee's case was initially assigned to a panel of four justices -- a conventional way for the Supreme Court to manage cases it hears on appeal. But Chief Justice Jo Hee-de decided to hear the case in a full court session after considering the high level of public interest and national concern. A full-court review is one of two procedures by which the court exercises its jurisdiction, convening with at least two-thirds of the justices, with the chief justice presiding. If the Supreme Court overturns the lower court's acquittal, the case will be sent back to the lower court for a final and unchallengeable verdict. Lee could lose both his parliamentary seat and his eligibility to run for public office for a decade. Under Article 19 of the Public Official Election Act, anyone convicted of violating election laws who receives a fine exceeding 1 million won ($700) is barred from running for office for 10 years. But if the court dismisses the prosecution's appeal, Lee will be cleared of the charges. The court can also directly deliver a new judgment, including sentencing, based on case records and evidence examined in the first and second trials in the lower courts. But, legal experts consider it unlikely that a new judgment will be issued by the Supreme Court, citing the rarity of such decisions in criminal cases. According to Supreme Court data, only 15 cases -- just 0.3 percent of all court rulings in 2023, were resolved by the top court's issuing a new judgment. According to the Democratic Party of Korea, Lee has decided not to attend the ruling in person as a defendant's attendance is not mandatory at the top court. The ruling, which is set to be broadcast live on TV and the Supreme Court's YouTube channel, is due to take place at the Supreme Court in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul, on Thursday at 3 p.m.
